Uzbekistan: Advancing Tungsten and Molybdenum Cooperation

The session on Critical Raw Materials Investment Opportunities in Uzbekistan highlighted the country’s growing role in tungsten and molybdenum development. Representatives from the European Commission and Uzbekistan’s Technological Metals Complex (TMK) provided strategic perspectives, followed by detailed project presentations and market insights from Project Blue. A new research agreement between TMK and KU Leuven on REE separation further strengthened scientific collaboration.

Kazakhstan: New CRM Project Opportunities for Europe

The KazakhstanCRM- Investment Session introduced a set of advanced CRM projects in graphite, rare earths, manganese and other strategic materials. Companies including Sarytogan, Zhezkazganredmet, Taza Metal Technologies and Ulba Metallurgical Plant presented their work, while the Alphamar CRM Fund outlined financing instruments for early-stage projects. The session demonstrated Kazakhstan’s increasing importance as a strategic partner for Europe.

Frontier Rare Earths: Deep Dive into Zandkopsdrift

A dedicated B2B deep-dive session with Frontier Rare Earths offered participants an extensive technical and financial overview of the Zandkopsdrift rare earth and manganese project. Moderated by Peter T. Jones from KU Leuven, Frontier presented its low-cost HPMSM production potential and its upcoming development milestones, including the definitive feasibility study. Discussions focused on bankability, financing requirements and opportunities for European offtake partnerships.

Global Natural Graphite Projects for European Processing

The CRM-Facility also moderated a specialised session on integrating overseas graphite projects with European value-added processing. Following an overview of Europe’s graphite market by ECGA, six companies from Africa, Central Asia and the Arctic region presented their projects. A multi-stakeholder panel explored how international mining capacity and European processing capabilities can be better aligned to strengthen supply chain resiliency.

Driving European Supply Chain Resilience

Together, these four sessions underscored the CRM-Facility’s growing role as a platform for connecting global project developers with European industrial and financial actors. Across tungsten, molybdenum, rare earths, manganese and natural graphite, the discussions revealed strong momentum for new collaborations — supporting Europe’s effort to diversify supply and accelerate the development of responsible, sustainable CRM value chains.

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• Unlocking hidden value in Zambia, showcasing advanced exploration technologies as enablers for future mining investment;
• Optimizing mining operations, with innovative approaches to mining services, tailings treatment, and circular economy practices; and
• Beneficiation of CRMs, emphasizing Zambia’s potential for local processing and manufacturing of high-value minerals.

Organisations from the EU, such as GTK and Xcalibur, are supporting the Government of Zambia in a country-wide remote sensing and data processing exercise, including under the EU-funded PanAfGeo program, to identify potential target areas for new mineral exploration. Meanwhile, international and local mining and exploration companies such as Anglo American, Kobalt Metals and Beltz Mining are already exploring and delineating potential new CRM deposits in Zambia, and awaiting the availability of new data to target new areas. The Government of Zambia has ambitious targets for its mining sector, such as increasing copper production to three million tonnes, and the direction of policy towards such activity is key to incentivising EU and private enterprise.

Zambia is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, and the Lobito Corridor has the potential to support further development based on its mining and CRM potential. Zambian businesses are investigating CRM added value, and the panel highlight opportunities in copper and manganese, but while Zambia has had downstream activity in the copper sector in the past, the global CRM value chain footprint has changed significantly in the last two decades with rapid industrialisation in China. Opportunities for Zambia-EU collaboration exist, but both sides have their own challenges to overcome and thus globally competitive business cases are critical.

Overall, the Business Forum underscored the shared commitment between the EU and Zambia to build a sustainable and mutually beneficial CRM partnership, supporting responsible value chain development within the Lobito Corridor and beyond. The Business Forum also provided opportunities for networking and matchmaking with Zambian industry representatives and government decision-makers.

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The visit included meetings with Taza Metals, ERG, KAZ Minerals, Ulba Metallurgical Plant, and Sarytogan Graphite, representing a broad cross-section of Kazakhstan’s prolific CRM ecosystem—from manganese and alumina to tantalum and graphite.

At Taza Metals in Aksu, discussions centred on the company’s plans to expand production of high-purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM) for the European battery market, with the potential to supply up to 30% of the EU’s demand by 2030. The team also visited ERG’s alumina and gallium facilities in Pavlodar and KAZ Minerals’ copper mine in Bozshakol, both examples of large-scale operations that could support Europe’s secure and sustainable raw materials supply.

Further east, the delegation toured the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust’-Kamenogorsk, one of the world’s few integrated producers of uranium, tantalum, and beryllium. Discussions there focused on potential cooperation in research and innovation to improve recovery of high-value metals.

The mission concluded with a visit to Sarytogan Graphite, which is developing one of the world’s highest-grade natural graphite deposits. The project is currently under evaluation for ERMA Booster funding, with potential offtake interest already emerging from European industry.

These visits highlighted Kazakhstan’s strategic role in strengthening the EU’s diversified and resilient CRM supply chains. The CRM-Facility will continue to engage with promising partners to facilitate investment, offtake, and joint-venture opportunities that advance both European and Kazakh interests in the raw materials sector.

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During the mission, the CRMF team met with TMK representatives to discuss priority projects and potential investment opportunities along the critical raw materials value chain. The visit also included a tour of the Chirchik metall processing plant and a series of strategic meetings with the Ministry of Mining Industry and Geology, where the delegation introduced EIT RawMaterials and the CRM-Facility’s mission, also in light of the upcoming EU-Central Asia Economic Forum.

Further discussions were held with the Uzbekistan–European Chamber of Commerce and other stakeholders, highlighting the growing momentum to strengthen bilateral collaboration on critical raw materials. To build on this progress, a dedicated event with TMK will be held during Raw Materials Week in November, followed by a three-day field visit to Uzbekistan, focused on investment opportunities and site visits to processing, exploration, and mining locations.

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